Refrigerator door brace



Dec. 14, 1954 0. 1. DE GRAW 2,696,644

REFRIGERATOR DOOR BRACE Filed Jan. 10, 1951 snail-m ang na 28 1 6 5 A gmg/a ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent Office REFRIGERATOR DooR BRACE Othel I. De Graw, Greenville, MiclL, 2551:1101 to Gibson Refrigerator Company, Greenville, Mich a corporation of Michigan Application January 10, 1951, Serial No. 205,403

6 Claims. (Cl. 38)

This invention relates to a refrigerator door, and more particularly to a refrigerator door of the so-called full covering type, in which the pan of the door is stiffened and supported particularly with respect to its outer, lower corner, so that an effective seal is maintained between the door and the cabinet in the operation of the door.

In the full covering type of door, considerable difliculty has been experienced in obtaining a good heat seal between the door and the refrigerator cabinet to which it is attached, and particularly between the outer, lower end portion of the door and the cabinet. Any difference in parallelism of the front of the cabinet and the inner face of the door results in a variation in contact between the door and the sealing gasket or the cabinet and gasket, depending upon which member the gasket is attached to, and heat leaks occur. Such a door is preferably constructed of sheet metal and the door cabinet flexible enough to permit it to warp slightly to conform to the cabinet, but such a door, as a result of excess weight and warping, has a tendency to sag at its lower outer corner and thus tends to lose its heat seal. The hinged side of the door does not present much of a problem because of the adjacent support provided by the hinges. However, the free side of the door, being far removed from the hinges, has a tendency, and particularly the lower free end corner of the door has the tendency, to lose its heat seal due to the accumulating result of excess weight and warping. While stiffening means and bracing means have herefore been provided, such means have exerted substantially equal tension upon the four corners of the door and have made no provision for supplying the extra needed tension or sup port for the outer lower corner of the door where I find the difficulty lies and where the heat seal is destroyed.

An object of the present invention is to provide means for correcting the tendency of the lower outer side of the door to destroy its heat seal due to the accumulated result of excess weight and warping. A further object is to provide compensating means for the excess weight and warping tending to break the seal at the outer lower corner of the door while permitting the flexing of the door for sealing and while also permitting the door latch to be located off-center. Yet another object is to provide a structure wherein the lower outer corner of the door is supported by a substantially diagonal structure reaching to the upper inner or hinge-supported side of the door whereby the strain upon the outer lower corner of the door is carried directly by the inner top portion of the door supported by a hinge. A still further object is to provide means for adjusting the tension upon the respective door corners to provide the desired tension or support for the outer corners of the door. Other specific objects and advantages will appear as the specification proceeds.

The invention is shown in an illustrative embodiment, by the accompanying drawing, in which Figure l is a front view in elevation of a refrigerator equipped with a door embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a rear view in elevation of the door; Fig. 3, a sectional view, the section being taken as indicated at line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4, an enlarged, broken perspective view showing specific supporting means employed.

In the illustration given, 16 designates a refrigerator cabinet to which a refrigerator door 11 is secured by means of hinges 12 and 13.

The door 11 comprises an outer door pan 14 of generally concavo-convex shape. It has a relatively flat 2,696,644 Patented Dec. 14, 1954 2 front, outer wall, and a perim'etric side wall 15. The perimetric wall 15 is provided at its rear with an inwardly-turned flange 16, to which is secured an angle iron brace of support 17.

Tie members are secured to the border angle members 17 to provide support for the corners of the door and particularly to support the lower free corner 18 of the door. In the structure shown, I provide a tie member 19 secured to the upper inner corner 20 of the door 11, and I provide also a tie member 21 secured to the lower outer corner 18 of the door. The two tie members (19 and 21) I prefer to connect in such a manner that the two tie members constitute a substantially diagonal support extending all the way from the upper corner 20 to the lower corner 18. In the structure shown, I connect the lower end of the tie member 19 to one end of a transverse bar 22. The other end of the transverse bar is connected by a tie member 23 to the upper outer corner 24 of the door. The upper end of the tie member 21 is connected to the end of a cross bar 25, and the opposite end of cross bar 25 is connected by tie member 26 to the lower, supported corner 27 of the door.

The two cross bars 22 and 25 are connected by a bolt 28, as shown more clearly in Figs. 2 and 4.

As indicated in the drawings, the bolt 28 connects the inner end of the bar 22 to the outer end portion of the bar 28, thus bringing the tie members 19 and 21 into generally diagonal alignment so that the lower outer corner portion 18 of the door is thus supported directly from the upper inner corner portion of the door. I prefer, however, to have the cross bars arranged very much as shown, so that the upper link or tie member 19 is substantially diagonally aligned with the lower strip or tie member 21. Thus the tension exerted upon the tie members 19 and 21 is supported by the upper inner corner 20 of the door lying adjacent the supporting hinge 12. By this means, I find that the tendency of the lower, outer side of the door to lose its heat seal by reason of the accumulations of excess weight and warping, is corrected. The diagonal arrangement of ties 19 and 21 acts as a compensator for the weight of the door. Even if the door is warped by excessive weight and abuse, the lower, outer side of the door is supported by the arrangement shown and a seal between the door and the cabinet is maintained. Further, the arrangement shown permits the door latch to be maintained off-center and at a position more convenient for operation.

In the specific structure shown, the tie members provide support for all four corners, but not in equal amounts, the cross bars 22 and 25 being arranged for distributing the support to meet the demands of the door and provding the extra, needed support for the lower, outer side thereof. At the same time, however, there is provided tension for all four corners.

In any structure employed, I prefer to provide means for adjusting the tension upon the tie members. In the specific structure illustrated, the bolt 28 is provided with a relatively long, threaded section at each end engaged by nuts 29 and 30, and the nuts may be adjusted to place increased or diminished tension upon the tie members. In effect, the two members 19 and 21 which are connected by the adjusting bolt 28 constitute a single tie member structure extending diagonally across the rear of the door.

The door may be provided with an inner metal lining, or finished in any other desired manner.

While in the foregoing specification, I have set forth a specific structure in considerable detail for the purpose of illustrating my invention, it will be understood that such details of structure may be varied widely by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. In combination, a door comprising a generally rectangular concavo-convex door pan composed of relatively flexible material and adapted to be supported from an inner lateral edge thereof, a plurality of tie members, two of said tie members extending inwardly from the top corners of the door and two tie members extending inwardly from the lower corners of the door, a bar connected to the inner ends of each pair of tie members,

3 said bars lying in substantially the same vertical plane and being arranged in'staggered'relation with respect to each other, and adjustable connecting means conhecting the. up e b r d acen e i mber leading to the upper inner corner thereof and'the lo'wfer t' at whi qia ch it sm saslihs o he W?! outer'corner of the door.

c ih tic qq qmpt ih enerall tangular concave-convex door pan composed? of -relatively flexible Inat'erial and adapted to" be supported from one lateral edge thereof, a pair of spaced-apartand generally horizontal bars, tiernernbers extending from the uppermost bar to the two upper corners offthe door, the memk bers extending from the lowermost bar to the lower corners" of the door, said bars beingv positioned: in the same vertical plane and being staggered with respect to each other, and boltand mu meansconneeting said bars;

3QIfhe 's'tructureof claim 2., iirwhich the tie, eta ber extending to the upper supported corner of the door and the tie member extending'to the outer'lower corner ofthe door liesiibstant'ially in the same, diagonal line.

i 4. In a door structui 7 having a"relatively'flexihle, generally rectangular, conjcavo-eonvex door pan adapted to be supported along one eral edge thereof, a pair of generally horizo teifspaed-apart bars lying in substan' tially the same vertical plane "ceiitrllybfsaid" (1661 structure, upper tiefmember's'secured at't-heir outer ends tosaid door structure adjacent theupper cornersthere-' of and at their inner ends to "the uppermost bar at spaced-apart points," at least one addit'ionaitie member secured at its'outer end' to' 'said deer structure adjacent the lower outer corner thereof, all ofsaid tie members lying substantially in said vertical plane and'th'e inner end of said additional tie member being secured to the lowermost bar,'said bars beingorien't'edso 'th'at'an' axial extension of said additional'tie member at its inner' end would pass through the uppermost bar intermediate the tie members extending therefrom, and adjustable means connecting said'bars're'spectively adjacent the tie members extending toward; the upper inner' corner and lower outer corner ofsaid door structure,

5. In a door structure haying a relatively flexible, generally rectangular cncavmccnvex d or p adapted to be supported'along one; lateral edge thereof, a, pair" of generally horizontal spaeedapart'ba'rs lying in sub;

stantially the same vertical plane centrally of said door structure, lower tie memberssecuredat their outer ends to said door structure adjacent the lower corners thereof and at their inner ends to'the lowermost bar at spacedapart points, at least one additional tie member secured at its outer end to said door structure adjacent the upper inner corner thereof, all of said tie members lying substantially. in said vertical plane and the inner end of said additional tie member being secured'to the uppermost; bar, said bars being oriented so that an axialv ext,' on of said. additional tie member at its innerv end would pass through "thelowe'rm'ost bar intermediate, the tie members extending therefrom, and'adjustablemeans conne ting id bar r spec ive y djacen the i m. bers extending toward the upper inner corner and lower outer corner of said door stihcturel 6. In combination, a door comprising a generally rectangular concave-convex door pan composed of relatively flexible material and being adapted to'be supported.- from one lateral edge thereof, a pair of vertically-spaced and generally horizontal bars, tie members extending from spaced-apart points on. the uppermost bartoward the upper corners of'the door. andbeing. secured adjacent thereto, tie rr'rembers'ex tending from 'spaced apart points on the lowermost bar toward "the lower corners of the door and being. secured adjacent thereto, said bars. beingpositioned in the same vertical plane and oriented. with respect to each other so that assumed extensions at their inner ends of the. tie. members secured: respectively adjacent the upper inner and lower outer corners of the door would pass throughrespectively'the lowermost and uppermost b'ars adjacent each other and intermediate the tie members extending therefrom, and means adjustably connecting said bars together adjacent the tie members extending therefrom toward the upper inner.

and lower outer corners of the door.

ReferencesCit-ed: inthe file of; this patent. UNIT D STA ES ATENTS 

